a vote of lost. support from mainstream politicians though there is a sense of disappointment. america's new secretary of state john kerry. on his first tour abroad with his mission with old nato allies. in the latest that was to negotiate peace in syria the country's government says it's ready to talk to all sides. even though. drugs vegetables. two hundred kilos of heroin with.

twenty four hour global news live this is with me thanks so much for joining us polls have now just closed and where dissolution public has been choosing its parliament the election is largely seen as a protest vote against painful austerity and corrupt politicians helping to punish the mainstream parties is a former comedian who's promising to swing the country around from its current course of cuts and. reports the outcome might be no laughing matter. the streets of rome aligned with posters from various political parties and candidates all smiles and bright colors offering the best future possible for italian voters. i. was since i was a candidate

was thirty six i think it's nice because it was a good job thanks to the program low is not the leader but the face of a movement whose plan is simple to do away with the politics that italy has been used to for the past couple of decades and bring about a new type of rule the number saved on my part of you don't feel protected by the state i want to stay that is visible there is no more state in this country just a bureaucracy of laws that has replaced democracy there isn't anything left among the crowds disillusioned but as always politics is done the analysis has started small by successfully challenging politicians in his small hometown in the south like many talents he does not trust the current political system if it were possible to feel i believe that or do you think there will be a vote was ok i begin to feel that it was

a little bit of the all of it but it is time for a change at least one hundred thousand people showed up to support the laws movement in the center of rome the biggest political gathering in half a century people say popular because it speaks clearly and they say it's one of the main thing to say so they have to go or home. oh. yes they're finished this right because the the political class has lost in the in the influence on the part of the population especially young people. the crisis in which we have a political class absolutely unable to cope with the situation and the situation is a desperate one the longest recession in twenty years more than one third of the country's youth are without a job corruption that feeds organized crime and manages to siphon off as much as sixty billion euros

a year by some estimates and declaring wealth divide between various italian regions basically it is huge a parliament will have a mouthful to chew to avoid choking on the problems which have accumulated over the years perhaps doing away with the old men in suits no matter how respectable they may appear in favor of a foul mouth but seemingly honest comedian may be just the thing to put an end to italy's political drama in rome. and political analyst alessandra polity doubts that any of the cardinals will end up delivering on their promises to rein in italy's finances which could at the end of the day just sponge the whole eurozone into a fresh state of turmoil. well the problem of europe is not the problem of public debts this is a financial assault that has been concerted by private entities to milk money from the eurozone that said of course berlusconi is not really the best choice to to

drive around these difficult obstacles and the moment you walk and really so much better despite being well connected with the financial world has a wonderful work. but very little continent and this is a bit worrying because as soon as you get in it gets in parliament it's not just italian politics is going to make politics in the world and frankly for the moment they don't feel he is really well equipped i hope he will make up because anyhow he will come up with a sizable number of parliament to this but they have really to study very hard very fast to come up with something credible so the voting has finished and exit polls are expected to be released shortly if you can stay with us here in oz he will bring you the very first results of what many are calling the most unpredictable elections in italy's history. but for now the new u.s.

secretary of state is in london testing the ground for american foreign policy on the first leg of his first tour abroad a john kerry's meeting with traditional american allies in europe such as the leaders of britain germany and france before heading to the middle east a political expert john ri says kerry's mission in europe is all about persuading old partners to take on a greater role in nato as ongoing foreign wars. it's always been very important for the americans to keep the nato alliance together but they always want to keep it together on their own terms it's always been the case for instance that the senior commanding officer in nato is from the american armed forces and what the americans constantly want to do is to shift the burden of military intervention on to the european powers but to keep political control all the process and i think the we've seen that a number of times recently especially since the american focus is now beginning to shift towards the pacific to deal with the rising threat of china we are going to

use route the europeans now have to take on a greater share of burden in respect to policing the arab world and north africa what we're seeing here is an attempt to convince the nato allies that they should pay more but have no more influence it's good to have you with us here on r.t. today a massive drugs bust right on the edge of moscow has once again highlighted the alarming rise in the illegal heroin trade from afghanistan into russia almost two hundred kilograms of high grade heroin was seized by drug control officers this monday at a busy market. research on thomas told me all the details. they have discovered one hundred ninety kilos worth one hundred eighty million u.s. dollars outside of moscow and how they discovered it is kind of interesting in fact the drugs made it all the way from afghanistan here in bags of radishes in fact you can see the radishes and then the green heroine check this out it's

a dyed in the color of the red it is radishes so that it's less noticeable less easy to detect and there they've discovered one hundred and ninety kilos worth now the big news here is that they have blocked where they believe they've blocked a major supply route from afghanistan through and it was back a stand company vegetable contract that was sending things to the urals russian company there and then brought to moscow in this particular case they have detained two people two more people have been arrested of course the investigation is ongoing but very interesting stuff indeed so what about other latest suppose the situation of drugs coming from afghanistan to russia the moment i've seen many reports in recent months of just say that frankly afghan drug production is is on the way up if you look at it russia is involved with the western forces in afghanistan to specifically deal with the drug problem from afghanistan but if you look at this week there is good news coming in here in russia around russia in different regions around thirty tons of various types of drugs between heroin and

marijuana synthetics drugs and psychotropics as well they were discovered in various regions around russia but the bad news is since the west has gone into afghanistan since the u.s. invasion drug production from afghanistan up five thousand percent not good news at all and then again narcotics into russia from afghanistan has more than doubled in that amount of time and in fact of the director of the russian federal drug control services states that two thousand and fourteen may actually be a very good year for russia saying that when the u.s. bugs out of afghanistan they actually expect that the import of drugs from afghanistan to russia. actually decrease. was put in a bit earlier in the program well drugs will certainly remain one of the central problems for security forces in afghanistan itself and that's further turmoil there after president karzai ordered u.s. troops to leave the wod back province under public anger over numerous cases of

civilian murders and abuses we report on that a bit later this hour. and for now ten minutes past the hour moscow time and the rivalry between the u.s. and china has gone digital and is threatening to turn into a full scale cyber war a recent scandal involving a chinese military unit alleged cyber theft from american companies has now put washington on the defensive but it might not be long before washington makes its move in this new era cyber arms race more important i reports. in january it is my pleasure to welcome president hu to the white house washington and beijing were the a list couple of geopolitics the positive constructive cooperative u.s. china relationship is good for the united states in february america's feelings are fleeting china unleashing its full spy power let's return to the alleged link between china's military and

a prolific hacking group most cyber attacks are being carried out by teams inside the chinese military china is officially out of control because don't look now but prove today our sugar daddy is a thief beijing became an overnight security threat last week after the american information security firm mandiant identified a secretive chinese military unit as the likely source of hacking against u.s. corporations a charge china vehemently denies. however as the u.s. refocuses its military might from the middle east to china's backyard critics say it's no coincidence that beijing is suddenly morphing into america's virtual al-qaeda i think this is part of what oh egypt which is really a china and this cyber thing is is fits right into that pattern i think what we're looking at is art of this obama pivot to focus on china and to paint china is the

new military threat to the world it's a demonization china earlier this month u.s. president barack obama signed an executive order aimed at strengthening america's defenses when you know hackers steal people's identities and infiltrate private e-mails we know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid our financial institutions our traffic control systems we cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy but according to reports washington is all too familiar with the offensive side of cyber war it's the u.s. who launches things like stuxnet that together with israel to to cripple certain iranian technology capabilities in two thousand and ten a computer virus known as stuxnet infected tehran's enrichment facilities destroying nearly one thousand of iran's six thousand centrifuges according to

reports the virus made entirely out of code was a joint collaboration between the us and israel in terms of a pandora's box i think it will be slightly harder for the united states to adopt a position of purely be friends we sort of made it clear that we're willing to use cyber in advance of our national interest while reports about china's a legit cyber attacks have dominated u.s. mainstream media much less is being said about the pentagon's decision to double down on its cyber war workforce expanding from nine hundred to more than forty five hundred employees experts say the move is indicative of washington's evolving military strategy every command of the troops or all certainly will include the cyber component and the edge of cyber war france could become foes by the click of a mouse and some say in a very short time relations between the u.s.

and china over virtual espionage can resemble the long stalemate that took place at the soviet union during the cold war we're in a port i.r.c. new york so fucking scandals a cyber war between beijing and washington d.c. with very interested hear what you have to say about it at all. dot com we're still taking your votes and your opinions on our polls right here come the numbers for this hour let's see how you're voting right now regarding a cyber war between washington and beijing sixty five percent of all of you voting say it's just a p.r. stunt from obama's cybersecurity so you can. curate his policies analysis that's a tough one every now and again down to up at second position here it's all about espionage well that's fairly easy to believe a thirteen percent down to the orange or yellow a glimpse into world war three i think perhaps i'm getting a bit dramatic down to the fourth position of the bare minimum saying that a world between washington and beijing a cyberwarfare president obama is sending

a very clear warning to china while we're still taking your votes that are to dot com we love it when you get involved to let us know what you think and for the meanwhile i'll be back with more global news after a very short break. it's technology innovations all the latest developments from around russia we've. covered. sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought . i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

more news today. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. operation to rule the day. with the rory sushi syria's government is ready to hold talks with the opposition even its factions the country's foreign minister made the announcement while meeting russian diplomats right here in moscow to bring peace to syria who have suffered a new blow after the main rebel group decided to pull out of all international talks all the while complaining about what it sees as

a lack of action against president assad. has gone off points. this visit is taking place at a very uncertain time it's really not clear what's needed to be done in order to get the syrian opposition engage in talks with the governments and saddam askers does stress that it is really for a dialogue with the opposition and in the last week there were some positive signals coming from the wells they said that they were willing to hold talks with the government now they refused coming to moscow accusing russia of supporting president assad it was so the number of those who support this realistic approach towards a peaceful resolution is growing those who want to continue fighting to the end realize that it's so they're trying to suppress positive news from the opposition and stop any steps towards dialogue. in the meantime soon after thirty years have put together a government commission headed by the prime minister designed specifically for negotiations with the opposition and they say that they are ready to talk even with

armed rebels because. we are ready for dialogue with everyone including those who are fighting on the ground as we are convinced that reforms should not be made through bloodshed meanwhile it was more or less predictable that the rebels would refuse coming to moscow it came as a total surprise that they rejected coming to washington and drawn to take part in the upcoming meeting of the so-called friends of syria group which was initially designed to support to the syrian opposition and foreign minister lavrov a stress if nothing is done now and no political process starts if the violence continues there then the whole country is on the brink of collapse. are you going to reporting now online for you what r.t. dot com right now a wave of fury rages across the west bank at r.t. dot com we've got pictures of fierce clashes triggered by the death of a. palestinian prisoner inside an israeli jail and details of how tell of the might

try and quell the protests. and the issue of web but freedom not north korea style the country plans to make life easier for tourists by giving foreigners full online access. to the twenty minutes past the hour moscow time not far off from the world update for now though germany has vowed to wear new still talks on turkey joining the e.u. as chancellor i'm going to close there on an official visit i think there is increasingly frustrated over a lack of progress in negotiations and the prime minister calling it a delayed quote unforgivable political analyst manuel oxon writer says the current

economic situation in the e.u. leaves many turks determined to stay out rather than sign up. to see that european union is no democratic pro-choice its political approach a sort of ideological approach take because when you ask the people in germany if they wanted to head the euro for example fifteen years ago a huge majority of the people who were against getting that europe ask the people if they want to send troops to the turkish syrian border they say no the european union is a construct without any democratic base it's an ideological based and so maybe hopefully we can hope for for the turkish people that they will have the right to take part in the referendum a vote about a turkish you membership because i can imagine that for the turkish citizen to see how do you repeat how the european union develops now in those states is doesn't

seem very attractive to become a member of that club. the blame game is in full swing in washington over a looming budget cuts which may take effect at the end of the week eighty five billion dollars will be slashed across sectors funded by public money if democrats and republicans fail to reach a compromise on tax increases or the latest budget battle in the risky methods used by the u.s. to revive its economy a back in the spotlight for today's cross talk that's coming up next hour. least indication of the united states you're seeing the private sector seeing a gradual improvement of the economy a much more while the above do you a p.-n. situation where you have been head go ahead we're do you see an improvement in the united states what do you see that and also do you think a monetary policy is going to get you anywhere while you have to balance sheets of every country and the printing of money is destroying it is doing the complete

opposite of what you wanted to do the united states economy he's definitely on an improving bad. housing sector coming bag. put. the housing is going through my confit consumer confidence is not a measure of economic activity. ok let's get into it here on out so you starting with south korea into the artsy world up there we are the new elected for female president when it's called for the country's northern neighbor to drop its nuclear program she believes the move would lead to shared development between the states the communist north carried out his third nuclear test earlier this month in retaliation to western imposed sanctions

a park at the daughter of the nation's assassinated or her critics found was sworn in today at a ceremony attended by tens of thousands. ikea as a whole to all of its meat balls sales in a number of countries after inspectors in the czech republic found they contained a horse d.n.a. the horsemeat scandal first erupted last month in ireland but it's now spread all across europe millions of products have been taken off the shelves while investigators try to figure out the source of the contamination some of the even seeing conspiracies behind the horsemeat may have been blaming it all on the field . and a block of the chemical factory in the southwestern chinese city of green young has injured five people and forced twenty thousand others to evacuate firefighters arrived at the scene bringing the flames under control they made huge plumes of black smoke environmental workers are currently checking the air quality in the region. thousands of protesters are marching across the ball garia venting their

anger at rising utility costs caused by power monopolies. rallying for more than a week nationwide protests have already forced the country's government to resign after fail to bring down the ever rising price of energy. the afghan president hamid karzai has ordered u.s. special forces to leave the key battleground province of wind down troops there were accused of torture and the murdering of civilians just as kabul is preparing to regain control of security politics professor patricia gennaro believes that cause i also need to regain the support of his people. the wardak province is you know the family is strong the place isn't volatile and i think they're kind of tired as well as most afghans so having u.s. forces going in and out of people's houses that are and comment karzai president karzai needs to take care of his own situation that sees definitely president karzai is trying to make a statement and fact they haven't come to an agreement yet they you know there is

there's still a little i'm sure power play going on between the u.s. and the president as to who's going to stay who's going to be in charge you know what kind of numbers they want and how they're going to work but more support throughout the nation and then just his region within the south there. or it is time to get some action here on out to be the glamorous partridges next with sports . there's an old urban legend that says that the u.s. army stopped using circular targets for rifle practice because the soldiers would be hesitant to shoot people on the battlefield the logic is that if you practice shooting something that looks like an enemy soldier you'll be desensitized about killing real enemy soldiers so again the logic is to practice shooting at what you

want to kill so you won't hesitate and speaking of not hesitating the law enforcement targets incorporated has created a special line of paper targets for police called new more hesitation so it's on these targets well maybe mexican drug cartel members or l.a. street gangs nope children and pregnant women you know law enforcement targets in coffers a product to desensitize police from hesitating to blow away women carrying the unborn and innocent children and you know it's even sicker than that i bet law enforcement agencies are probably buying these things up by the thousands but that's just my opinion.

and i welcome to the r.t.s. boat show with me take coming up this half an hour of sporting action from russia on the round the world these are the top stories. top of the class after a week when all three russian sides reached the last sixteen of the europa league we look at an option time coach helping raise the next generation of stuff at a stop. while top of the bull russian snowboarder stanislav did call for a fine.